Judy… she screamed for practically the whole ride back to her apartment… And I couldn’t blame her one bit.

  I figured out why Evelyn reminded me of Jackie… It was the helplessness. Seeing my friend do something I knew he shouldn’t do, and not saying enough… An error which cost him his life. Yet we somehow managed to save a life today.

  Evelyn didn’t speak a word the entire van ride. Nothing. Not even a groan. But she was screaming inside, I knew that much. No one goes through what she did and comes out the other side without a shattered mind.

  I gently laid her in Judy’s bed before telling her that I needed some air, taking off my equipment and placing everything in the living room. “I’ll be right back, gonna go pick up my car. You be alright?” I asked Judy.

  “Yeah, sure thing,” she nodded, “Thanks for the help.” Wow, it's a miracle, it finally stopped raining. For now, anyway. The clouds still threatened to pour it down any minute.

  I headed straight back not an hour later, greeted by Judy at the door. Sure enough, lightning struck over the horizon as I entered… Guess it was bound to happen.

  “Huh, y’know, I tried gettin’ your attention, you left your shit here.”

  “Well I told you I was coming right back, didn’t I?”

  “Yeah, it’s just– alright, yeah. Thanks,” she smiled, letting me in. I came across something I’d nearly forgotten about in my backpack when I stowed my Agent… Evelyn’s cigarette case. Such a pretty artifact from a beautiful woman. Despite the long drive, I still felt like I couldn’t breathe… needed fresh air.

  I took the case outside with me, thumbing it around, lost in my own mind. All my thoughts were with Evelyn… If just one person’s life could be saved from that God-forsaken heist… No… Don’t think that selfishly. Stop it, just stop…

  “Come on, is it really that hard?” Johnny appeared beside me, “Please, just one. For me.”

  “Two things, Johnny… First, how dare you ask for a fucking smoke from me right now,” I hissed at him, “I’m not taking any of that shit today. And second – for the millionth time, I don’t smoke. Smoking is for fucking posers, now leave me alone.”

  “C’mon… I promise, I’ll leave ya alone if you just have one smoke.”

  I turned to face his stupid fucking face. I swear, this fucking asshole… “No means no.”

  “Pff, non-smokers are the fucking worst, just my luck,” he growled, resting his arms on the balcony. “We goin’ in yet? Fuckin’ miserable out here.”

  “No, Johnny. Or did you not see a fucking thing in there?! Give ‘em a moment, at the very least.”

  “Yeah, I did. And if it was up to me, I’d have splashed some water on her face back at the studio and asked her straight-up.” What… the fuck… is wrong with this man… That’s… that’s inhuman to say…

  I stood there in stunned silence. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing…

  “Won’t get much better unless you get your ass in gear. I’m not about to stand around waitin’ for some dumb whore to wake up and realize what she’s done,” he snarled… What in the fuck is he talking about?! Does he have any concept in the slightest of trauma?!

  “Are you fucking kidding me!?!” I couldn’t help myself, not this time… “You’re talking about a woman who spent weeks being tortured, raped, and brutalized beyond belief. Passed around like a fucking family-portioned meal between Woodman and Fingers and the fucking scavs, and you have the BALLS to tell me that I should’ve just splashed some fucking water on her face?! Calling her some dumb fucking whore?! What the FUCK is the MATTER WITH YOU!?”

  “Yeah, whatever, not like they’re not a dime-a-dozen just like her in that shithole. Least you got ‘er out. And now that you scratched her back, maybe she’ll scratch our–”

  “GAAH!!” I screamed in my head, nearly throwing her case out of sheer frustration before finally storming back in… Was starting to thunder outside again, anyway… “FUCK!” Fucking Johnny…

  Funny, I headed outside for some fresh air. Now I had to get some fresh air by going back inside. Anywhere but where Johnny was. I knew I was kidding myself with that, but I still held out hope that I could find some sort of pocket dimension where Johnny just doesn’t exist if I looked hard enough. Didn’t check Judy’s bathroom yet, maybe she keeps one in there.

  Sadly no Johnny-less pocket dimension. But at least it’s clean – cleaner than my bathroom, anyway. Someone who takes such fastidious care of her surroundings is surely the best chance Evelyn has, friendship notwithstanding.

  “How is she?” I asked Judy, watching Evelyn from the doorframe.

  “She’s sleeping…” she quietly told me, “Or, at least, I think she is. Still not said anything and her eyes are closed, so…”

  I joined Judy, propping myself on the opposite side. This poor woman… And here I thought my issues were bad. This situation goes well beyond ‘issues.’ I still couldn’t believe Johnny had the gall to criticize a catatonic, shell-shocked woman who was shattered beyond recognition. Luckily, it’s not Johnny’s job to take care of her, it’s Judy’s. And if I know anything about people like her, it’s that she would never leave Evelyn’s side, no matter the cost.

  “...I would’ve already killed her by now if I didn’t feel so bad for her,” Judy sighed deeply, a permanent frown painted on her face.

  “You’re mad at her? Why, because she went to Clouds?”

  “Hmph,” Judy thought out-loud to herself, “I guess… That and I guess you wanna scour her behavioral chip?”

  “What?” I backed up a bit, “No, Judy… That’d be a horrible thing to ask. No, no, I wanna give her all the time in the world.”

  “Fuck…” Judy shook her head in resentment, “Guess that makes one of us… ‘cause tha’ss what I did.”

  “What? Why?”

  “I just… I had to know, V. Know who was responsible for this shit… so I took a look while you were gettin’ your ride and, uh… well that’ll come later.” She crossed her arms, clearly holding back tears. I couldn’t even imagine seeing Jackie there like that… the shit going through Judy’s mind… “I’ll show you the virtus in a sec… just wanna watch her a bit longer.”

  “Yeah, I get that…” I frowned, “I’m sorry, Judy.”

  “Nah, none of this was your fault, V,” she insisted, “But thanks regardless…”

  “I know… yeah, I know,” I sighed, leaning up on the wall again, “She just reminds me of someone’s that’s all.”

  “Oh? Who’s that?”

  “My brother,” I shuffled around and let my arms go, “Jackie Welles. I came here… God, what’s it been… 13 years ago? Jackie and I met a few years after that, during a botched mission of mine. We saved each other’s lives.”

  “Your brother?” Judy asked me, “Huh… where’s he now?”

  “He, uh… was on the heist,” I rubbed my lips, my eyes darting around the room, “And… well…”

  “Y’don’t gotta say it…” Judy interrupted, “It’s okay.”

  “Mm… He was my brother. By choice, not by blood.”

  “Hm, I get it,” Judy nodded, “Yeah, she’s like that with me, too… We met, what, like five years ago, I think… This was back when she was still workin’ full time at Clouds. I’d been doin’ BDs for ‘em for about a year or som’n, and we just… I dunno… hit it off. Helped each other out a lot. I was goin’ through a rough time with my output at the time, this chick named Maiko who also works at Clouds – the manager,” Judy scoffed. I smelled blood in the water. “Anyway, so me an’ Ev said ‘fuck ‘em,’ and we hit the road together. Wound up joinin’ the Mox a few months later, ‘parently there’s high demand for someone offerin’ my services, and…” she took a long pause, suddenly no longer talking at all.

  “...And?”

  “Heh, nah, sorry,” Judy stopped herself, “I’m just nervous. Kinda waffle on a lot when I’m nervous.”

  “It’s okay,” I said reassuringly, “It relaxes me. And I think it’d relax Evelyn as well, to hear a familiar voice.”

  “Yeah, I guess so…” she leaned back on the doorframe again, silently watching Evelyn sleep. “She’s been like this the whole time, V… Not asleep, not awake… just… in a trance… I’m scared for her…”

  “I am, too,” I admitted.

  “Whaddyou think’s wrong with her?” Judy whispered to me, “Some kinda… what, PTSD?”

  I furrowed my brow and thought about my answer for a minute. “I, uh… Well, that’s a given, the PTSD. There’s a couple people from my unit who ended up like that by the end of the War… just lying there, motionless. Sometimes they’d wake up, screaming about incoming Panzers or firebombing or whatever else…”

  “That what happened to you? Back at the compound?”

  “...Yeah,” I let out a sigh, my eyes watering up a bit, “Have you ever, I dunno… smelled something and it reminded you of home? So you lose yourself in that memory for a little while. It’s like that… Just that you can’t turn it off. You can’t escape from it…” I thought out-loud, “It’s… it’s like an intense, unedited BD. And you try and grab the wreath, except…”

  “...There’s nothing there,” Judy finished my statement, “God, Ev…”

  “Music helps. A movie, a voice… something they enjoy. Something to let ‘em know they’re not there anymore.”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Mm, I think I can do that…” she nodded, “Thanks, V.”

  “Listen, call me anytime, okay?” I told her, “I’m here for you.”

  “‘Preciate it, but I think I’m alright,” she spoke plainly. Tough as nails. “Here, I wanna show you something.”

  “This the BDs you scrolled?” I asked her as we headed to her office.

  “Mm, managed to scroll two. Can barely make out the rest… understandable, though.” Wow, this is a gorgeous room. Must be six figures’ worth of eddies in tech dating back to pre-Krash… Woman knows her shit. “Have a seat. Here, got your BD wreath all ready to go.”

  “Okay, I’m sorry, I’ve got to ask… where’d you get all this?!”

  “Heh, just collected it over the years,” she smiled at me, “Why, you like it?”

  “I love it,” I openly gawked, “That a copy of Elflines Online?! I thought the servers shut down years ago!”

  “Yeah, but you can still play over pirate nets, just gotta host a proxy server so the game thinks it’s online.”

  “No shit… huh, never thought of that.”

  “Yeah, girl’s gotta have her hobbies, right?” she smiled, “Anyway, the main event.”

  “Right, what’ve you got?”

  “Like I said, data’s in pretty rough shape, not all that editable,” Judy pulled up a diagram of Evelyn’s brain on the main overhead monitor, “Neural processes firin’ all over the place, hard to make sense of it.”

  “Glad you were here, then.” I slipped on the BD wreath and got comfortable.

  “Mhm. Quality’s lousy. But I think we got a lead.”

  –

  I’m sat in a… a church pew? A chapel? Smells wooden… organic. A massive overhead LED display shown what looks like an old Haitian Veve crest… I recognize these. “What are they?” Markings. Said to magnify a place’s spiritual energy… I’m not familiar enough with them…

  A woman speaks to me. Can’t see her face. Judy…? “Under normal conditions, that kind of encryption’s easy to crack… whoever she is, she’s got serious netrunning skills…”

  Voodoo Boys. Gotta be. “The spine chillin’ netrunner crew?” Yeah… “Gonna be hard to find ‘cause they don’t wanna be… Wouldn’t know where to start.” Pacifica. Been there since the 2050s…

  What is Evelyn saying… let me listen… “What am I lookin’ out for? Every piece of tech I see? Security?”

  “We need a layout of the whole room,” a voice spoke with a distinctive, thick accent, “We will get everything else we need for the virtu.” So Evelyn scrolled the BD for the Voodoo Boys… so they’re her employers…

  “What about his messages?” Evelyn asked.

  “Only if you can do it quietly. I’ss most important you do not arouse suspicion. Try to be you usual, relaxed self.”

  “And if he starts talking about the biochip…? Should I…”

  I sensed a pit of anxiety. She said too much. “Biochip? Where you hear dis?” the figure turned to face Evelyn, “That is not of interest to you. You spin the virtu, come back here, get the eddies, that is your one job.” Stood up… I could feel Evelyn’s heartbeat spiking…

  So we’re looking for a church in Pacifica… I see a large cross-shaped window, seems to be the only natural light source… Can you pull up a list of churches? I’ll head to them one-by one.

  “Sure, see what I can do,” Judy said to me, “That everything?”

  Yeah… what else do we have?

  –

  Now I’m in… a stairwell…? No, a landing, a porch, maybe? Hard to tell… a set of stairs, at least. Smoking. Then I noticed something… Everything changed in an instant. I kicked the cigarette away… I was hiding. Hiding… uhm…Yeah, there she was… the same woman. At the base. Talking with someone on the phone. “What language is she speaking?” Haitian Creole, sounds like… it is the Voodoo Boys…

  “I’ll see if I can download a translator that’ll work with your system. Hang on, should take a couple seconds.”

  Evelyn spying on the mysterious woman’s conversation… Who was that other person she was speaking to…

  “Got it… tap into the audio…”

  Done…

  “The doll has left?” the voice spoke on the other line.

  “Yes. You were right. She was too smart for her own good.”

  “Will she be giving us any trouble?”

  “She wouldn’t dare.” I could see her pacing around down the stairs. “Besides, she’s our best route to Yorinobu. We must take this risk.”

  “I wish I shared your confidence that Silverhand will lead us to Alt.” Alt… he’s mentioned that name before…

  “Who?” Judy asked me. – Nothing…

  “You have a better idea? Good, then stop questioning my judgement and get back to work.”

  “And that’s it,” Judy said to me, “Takin’ it off now…”

  –

  “Well, I guess we know that she wasn’t always honest with us,” I shrugged as I straightened out my hair, “So she was working with the Voodoo Boys, and they must’ve burned her because she knew too much. They probably sent a runner to Clouds, spiked her with a nuke and took off.”

  “Yeah, just to make sure no one would say anything… fuck, I’m so angry at her…” Judy stormed around in her seat, punching the arm hard enough that she likely bruised her knuckle but didn’t show an ounce of pain response.

  “Mm, and the rest, with Woodman, Fingers, the scavs… all just incidental.”

  “Tell me one thing, V… Woodman, did you give that gonk what’s comin’?”

  “He never stood a chance,” I nodded, “Don’t worry.”

  “Hmph, guess that’s one bit o’ good news, at least,” she muttered with a pensive look, shuffling her chair close to me, “One thing I still don’t get, though. I heard that chick mention somethin’ about Silverhand…? What, like Johnny Silverhand? Wasn’t he one of those terrorists from the AHQ bombing?”

  “Mhm,” I nodded, with Johnny appearing behind Judy.

  “Aw, you look sullen,” I mocked him, “Is it because people only seem to remember you because you bombed Arasaka and not because of your shitty band?”

  “Just gotta remin–”

  “V, you got any idea?” Judy inadvertently interrupted him.

  “Yeah, I do, actually,” I eyeballed Johnny behind her, “You, uh… might want a drink for this.”

  “Oh, see now I’m jus’ plain curious.”

  “Alright, well… the biochip Evelyn tasked me to steal from Arasaka? It’s in my head… A prototype variant of the Relic. And it contains an engram. One guess whose engram that is.”

  “Johnny S– Wait…” she paused, trying to process what I was saying, “So… Hang on. You mean to tell me that you got an engram of Johnny Silverhand in your head?!”

  “...Yeah,” I sighed. “A digitized psyche, to be precise… And I can’t remove it without kicking the bucket… Hence why I looked for Evelyn… Or, more specifically, her buyers.”

  She just sat and let out a long, drawn-out whistle, apparently in utter disbelief.

  “...Can, uh… Can you give me a minute?” I asked her hesitantly, “I need to… uh… go over this stuff with him.”

  “E–Uhmm… What, like you can talk to him?”

  “He’s having a cigarette, leaning out the windowsill, right now,” I nodded over to Johnny, “The engram acts like… uh, like an Agent that only I can see. But he can hear you. He’s in my head, so whatever I do, see, touch, smell… he perceives the same thing.”

  “Fuck me…” Judy’s eyes raced around, “I, uh… y-yeah, I’ll be in the living room…” she got up and brushed her hair back, the look on her face one of someone who didn’t know how to make heads or tails of anything she’d heard.

  “Fuck, V…” Johnny muttered to me as she left the room, “The fuck are these Voodoo Boys?”

  “Haitian gang. There was a flood, wiped Haiti off the map, created a surge of diasporas– I’m guessing you missed history class?”

  “You do realize I’ve been dead the last half-century, right? Sorry if I need some shit explained to me.”

  “Alright, can’t fault you there…” I paused as he took a drag of his cigarette, “So wait, is Alt still alive…?”

  “Nah, she died in my time,” Johnny shook his head, blowing a big puff out his nose.

  “Weird… Then what could the Voodoo Boys want with a dead woman?” I brushed my lip with my finger.

  “How the fuck should I know,” Johnny shouted, “Just find us that juju wirehead, okay?”

  “Fine, whatever,” I rolled my eyes as he paced around the room. I swear, if someone were to knock down the door and put a gun to my head, I would welcome it. Oh well. Guess we can’t all be lucky. I should go check on Judy, though.

  “Like some coffee?” she asked me as she brewed up a pot on the counter, “How d’you take it?”

  “Thanks, just straight-black, please,” I smiled.

  “Ah, like your hair, huh, heh, sure,” she chuckled, “You have any idea how to even get in contact with the Voodoo Boys?” Her body language and face painted a different story. Still had that worried expression painted all over it.

  “Why the worried look, may I ask? Is it about your earlier assumptions?”

  “No, I mean – I didn’t trust you at first. But you looked after me and Ev, could’ve thrown us to the wolves at so many points,” she shuffled her feet around a bit, “No, I just– I just want it all to work out for you, I guess.”

  “I appreciate it,” I smiled in return, “But to answer your question… no, I have no idea. The Voodoo Boys are as reclusive as it gets. Even if we do find the church, they’re never gonna let us in. And if we get in, they’re never gonna speak to us. So that leaves me with basically one option – I have to find someone who’s already on good terms with them and have them act as a liaison or… something, I dunno. I know a local fixer, so I’ll probably start with him.”

  “Alright,” she itched her nose and sniffled a little, “Just… good luck. Hope you won’t need it.”

  “Thanks, Judy,” I delicately nodded my head.

  “No, thank you V… You’re a… You’re a good person. Evelyn could never see what was under people’s skin… If she could’ve gotten to know you a bit better, uh… Maybe things would’ve turned out differently…” I could see her eyes welling up.

  “She’s here now, that’s what’s important. And when this is all over, let’s all sit down and talk about it over that coffee. Deal?”

  “Deal–Ah, fuck, I forgot!” she laughed, “Here, black coffee for ya.”

  “Heh, thanks,” I gave her a genuine smile and took a sip… Actually quite a nice brew she has.

  I stopped to give my regards to Evelyn, and nothing had changed at all. I guess I shouldn't be surprised… I can't imagine the battle she's fighting. I dimmed the overhead light and took a seat next to her, just to give her some sort of companionship… "I'll be the first to admit, this does not look good…" Johnny muttered from across the room.

  "Hey, Evelyn… It's V. I can't begin to imagine what you're going through… but if you need someone, we'll be here for you, okay…?"

  She didn't respond…

  "…Okay… I'll leave you be… You're safe now… just keep punching."

  Judy joined Evelyn back in the bedroom shortly after, smiling at me for the kind gesture, I suppose. She let me see myself back to the car… Of course it's still thunderstorming outside. This weather’s been ridiculous lately. At least Judy’s apartment was partially beneath an overpass. Except the parking spaces… Oh well. I threw everything of mine in the trunk and took out my phone, flipping through a list of old contacts. It's been a hot minute, that's for sure.

  “So, what now? We go over to Pacifica, knock on everyone’s doors ‘til someone answers?” Johnny asked me with his sardonic, irritating tone at full-volume.

  “No, I got another idea… a fixer I know. Did a bunch of jobs for him in the past, goes by the alias of Mr. Hands.”

  “Sounds like someone who might come in Handy… heh…” he laughed to himself. I just rolled my eyes at his dumb ass.

  Mr. Hands… I’ve known him for years, yet I never once met him in-person. Hell, nobody even knows what he looks like – any camera displayed on him only reveals his impeccable silvery-chrome hands, hence the moniker. But he’s the only fixer in Pacifica, so I’d be remiss not to call him, even if it is just to let him know I’ll be in town… Fuck… I haven’t been to Pacifica in a long time, except to pass through. People who aren’t Haitian have a nasty habit of disappearing after a day or two in Pacifica. Unless that person ends up in Dogtown… But Dogtown is the last place someone like me would want to be. If this mysterious netrunner was behind that massive wall, I’d be right back to square one again. Only one way to find out, I suppose.

  “Mr. Hands,” I greeted him as soon as he picked up, “A pleasure as always.”

  “Ah, if it isn’t the illustrious samurai, I’d know that accent anywhere,” he replied with his booming, sultry voice. Man, what a voice it was, too… “How can I be of service?”

  “I need to gain an audience with the chief of the Voodoo Boys. Was hoping you could swing something for me, in exchange for a few favors or a paycheck, if you’d prefer.”

  “Ah, straight to biz. Ultra-heavy variety. Though I suppose it generally is with you…” his voice took on a darker tone to it, “The Voodoo Boys – led by one Maman Brigitte. Your request is no easy feat.”

  “Maman Brigitte? What happened to Agwe?”

  “Sadly Philippe Oreste appears to have abdicated about a week ago,” he told me, “Nobody knows what happened to him, apart from the occasional whisper on a street corner.”

  “Hm… And this Maman Brigitte? Who is she? That an alias, or…?”

  “Not even I would know,” he confessed, “Much as it pains me to admit, I am not all-seeing, all-knowing. Alas, I have not had the pleasure of being asked to enjoy tea with her.”

  “Then I’m guessing she’s not a real Maman Brigitte?”

  “As I’m sure you know, the Voodoo Boys don’t actually practice most of their religious heritage. So while she carries the title, that title itself bears no weight. They never truly adapted Vodou practices, they mostly just loosely allude to it.”

  “Right…” I thought to myself, “I guess I should’ve figured that you wouldn’t have the means to contact them.”

  “V…? Heh, reverse psychology? On me? How unbecoming of you.”

  “Hey, just lightening up the mood,” I cracked a slight smile, “So you’re not doing business with them?”

  “Surprised? I strive to avoid risk in my dealings. They pose much of it.” I can’t fault him there… “Still, feelers I can extend. No harm in asking around. I just need information from you – a springboard, if you will.”

  “Let’s just say… hm.” I got in my car, the old door squeaking as I closed it. Got to lube up the joints some more, I guess… “Let’s just say that I have something they want.”

  “You have something the VDBs want? Trust me, they don’t want it, they don’t have it. An insular bunch all-round. Tech and network’s bespoke, all in-house. But if you insist, I’ll poke around. Shall I drop your name?”

  “You know what name to use,” I nodded, “Just like I know what to call you by.”

  “Hm, very well. In the event of a twitch, you’ll hear from me.”

  I headed back home, knowing exactly what it is I wanted to do next – not contact Rogue. No, the first thing I wanted to do is get out of these fucking clothes and go straight to bed… It’s been a hell of a day. But a productive one nonetheless. Evelyn couldn’t be in better hands, and I may have a solid lead to someone who may actually have the means to get this fucker out of my head once and for all. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt to have a solid backup plan… Anders Hellman being that plan. But it’s not like Rogue’s going anywhere. She’ll be there in a day or two. I just need some time to think right now…